No death penalty in Northwest crime spree case with Eureka victim

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Justice Department says U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided against seeking the death penalty for two people accused in a 2011 Northwest crime spree that left four dead, including a Eureka man, according to a notice filed Friday in federal court.

Neither the notice nor the U.S. attorney's statement explains the decision. U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall said the process leading to it was confidential.

The accused are 32-year-old David "Joey" Pedersen and his girlfriend, 28-year-old Holly Ann Grigsby. A federal grand jury indicted the pair in August 2012. They face trial in July on federal kidnapping, carjacking and murder charges.

The pair is accused of killing two men, 19-year-old Cody Myers on the Oregon coast and 53-year-old Eureka resident Reginald Clark, in what authorities called a white supremacist scheme. Clark was black and Grigsby allegedly told investigators that Myers, a Christian, was killed because his name sounded Jewish. Pedersen has made similar comments in court.

Friends remembered Clark as a kind and generous man who always smiling and willing to help someone in need. He lived in Eureka for about 30 years and had battled homelessness throughout his life in Humboldt County, where he was known for traveling by bicycle, pulling a trailer full of his belongings.

Pedersen has pleaded guilty in state court to aggravated murder for the slaying of his father and stepmother in Everett, Wash., and has been sentenced to life in prison.

Grigsby's two lawyers did not immediately return calls for comment. Pedersen is representing himself.

Both defendants remain in federal custody, said Gerri Badden, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Portland.